Seed planter



March 27, 1951 Filed Sept. 10, 1945 c. H. TASCHE 2,546,838

SEED PLANTER 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

CAEL H. 774.5015.

March 27, 1951 c. H. TASCHE SEED PLANTER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 10, 1945 INVENTOR. C AEL H. TASCHE. BY

ATTOENG'V.

Patented Mar. 27, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT EFICE 3 Claims.

The invention relates to seed planting and has for an objectto provide improved means for planti g seed.

According to the. usual nursery practice of growing flats of tomato or pepper plants or the like, the seeds are planted in a flat, being scattered by hand and planted rather thick so that transplanting to another flat is made necessary after the seedlings have grown for two or three weeks,

Where flats of plants are grown on a large scale for sale to the grower, a considerable part of the total expense is, incurred in transplanting the, seedlings to other flats.

object of the present invention is to avoid the necessity of transplanting the seedlings. This is accomplished by planting the seeds in a coordinate array in the flat where the seeds remain and grow until the plants have reached market size.

j The present invention has a number of advantages. Transplanting results in a set-back in the plant growth. This set-back is avoided as transplanting is not necessary. Also, more uni form plant growth is obtained. Labor is v saved as it costs nine cents per fiat at the present market; price, to transplant 100 plants, whereas with this invention the original and only planting may be made for about five cents per fiat. Contamination due to handling the plants is avoided.

A larger number of plants per flat can be raised, as in the cause of Anaheim chili pepper, 250 plants per flat can be raised according to the present invention, whereas only 1-00 plants per flat are possible when transplanting by hand. Also according to the present invention one man can plant about 200 flats, per hour.

The invention provides means for simultaneously picking up from a seed bin a plurality of rows of seeds sufficient; to plant the whole of a fiat, with means for simultaneously depositing the rows of seeds on top of the seed bed in the flat.

Another object of the invention is to prevent disturbing the rows of seeds thus deposited, whenlater sprinkling the flat. This is accomplished by cov ring the seeds with a decomp able waterpcrmeable sop-tum such as t ssue pap r and y coverin -the septum with other seed bed material uch. as sterilized sand. As the seed are thus protected and covered, sprinkling does not dis-. turb the r spa in Th ep um de omposes in ab ut ne W ek nd does not. interfere with rowth of the eed ing.

For further details of the invention reference may be made to the drawings wherein Fig l is a view in elevation of means for practising planting the seed according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a partial sectional view on line 22 of Fig, 1 locking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 3 is an. enlarged sectional view with parts broken away on line. 3-3 of Fig. 2 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 4. is a further enlarged vertical sectional view through the seed pick -up device of the preceding figures.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged partial view in elevation of the pick-up device in planting position.

Fig. 6 is a partial sectional iew in perspective of a flat planted according to the present invention.

Referring in detail to the drawings, thev seed planter 1 comprises a stationary frame work 2 having at the right end thereof two vertical legs 3 and 4 adapted to rest on the floor or other support indicated at 5. The left end of the frame 2 similarly has two vertical legs one of which is indicated at 6 which extend to the floor or other support 5. The four legs indicated at 3, 1 and E are held in spaced relation by suitable cross braces indicated at l and 8 and by top braces indicated at 9. arranged an electric motor Iii having a suitable power circuit, not shown. Motor lil drives a suction pump 9 I, also shown as supported on the top braces such as 9. Suction pump II is connected by a flexible hose E2 to a suction seed pick-up device !3 and the suction is controlled by a valve it.

- The suction device I 3 comprises a hollow header it, see Fig. 3, which is in communication with valve i i and hose l2. At the bottom of the header 1-5 is a horizontal plate [6 from which depend a coordinate array I! of tubes, two of which 5.8 are shown in Fig. 4. Each of the tubes such as It opens into the header i5 and is provided at its lower end with a suction aperture l9. In the case. of tomato or pepper seed, the aperture is may be conveniently constructed by employing a small copper tube about one-eighth inch in diameter for tube 58 by closing its lower' end with solder and by drilling the hole is with a No. to drill. The diameter of tube [8 is preferably about three-quarters of the longest diameter of a seed and the size of hole i9 is approximately one-tenth to one-fifteenth the longest dimension of the seed.

The top of header i5 is preferably flared as On the top braces such as 9 is indicated at 2% in order to give-a substantially uniform suction over all of the tubes in the array ill.

The bottom plate IB' of the header is square and slightly smaller in size than the usual fiat as indicated at 2i in Fig. 5. Also the array ll of suction tubes are uniformly spaced in parallel rows throughout the whole area of the bottom Iii of the header and the array i! is coordinate and covers an area corresponding to the area of the seed bed 22 in the flat 2i.

The seed pick-up device it is slidably mounted on a horizontal track 23 which, as shown in Fig. 2, may comprise a pair of horizontal rails 213 and 25 from which the device i3 is suspended by a pair of spaced rollers 26 which ride on rail 25 and a similar pair of spaced rollers 21 which ride on rail 24. Each roller may be supported in a bracket 28 which extends outside of its track to prevent lateral movement of the suction device 13 on the track 23, as indicated in Fig. 2. Each bracket 28 arises from and is suitably secured to sloping wall 26 as indicated at 29.

The track 23 forms part of a movable frame 32 which is supported by a stationary frame 2 for movement up and down to raise or lower the pick-up device IS. The track 23 is secured at its right end to two spaced uprights 30 and the left end of track 23 is similarly secured to two spaced uprights 3|, the uprights 3t and 3!: each having suitable end braces indicated at 33, 3:3,top braces indicated at 35, and a bottom brace 38 which serves as a treadle.

The vertically movable frame 32 may be guided for vertical'movement by guide blocks 37, 38, 39, fill on frame 2 and the uprights 3i] and 35 may also be guided by apertures such as 4!, 32 in the work bench 53 secured to the stationary frame 2.

The movable frame 32 is held in its raised position by tension springs such as M connected at one end to the frame member 35 as indicated at' iii and fixed at its other end to the frame member s as indicated at 48. The operator may step on treadle 36 to lower the frame 32 against the tension of springs 44.

I At one side of the bench 63, underneath one end of the track 23 is supported a shallow be ill larger than the array ll of pick-up tubes. The box 51 comprises a seed supply station or a seed bin to hold a supply of seeds to be picked up by the device 13.

. At the other end of bench i3 is a planting station having fiat 2| which, as above described, is slightly larger than the pick-up device l3. Flat 2i contains a bed 22 of soil or other seed bed material.

In the operation of the device,the size of tube i3 and the size of pick-up aperture :9 are properiy chosen. with due regard to the seeds to be handled, as above noted. The seeds are spread out tofully cover the seed bin 4? and the operator moves the pick-up I3 by hand along track 23 to bring it over the seed bin 41. The relief valve it is, of course, closed and the pump ii produces suction in the pick-up i3 and in the array i! of pick-up tubes. The operator then steps on treadle 36 to lower the array ll of tubes into the seed bin ii, whereby each tube E8 picks up a seed as indicated at 59 in Fig. 4. The operator then releases treadle 35 whereupon the springs, ill elevate the track 23 and the pickup l3, with its coordinate array'of seeds, above the seed bin ii as indicated in full lines in Fig. l. Upward movement of the frame 32 may be limited by a stop 58 on frame 2 and a cooperating stop I 49 on frame 32.

The operator then slides the pick-up device I3 by hand along track 23 to a position over flat 2i and steps on treadle 36 to lower the pick-up device l3 so that the lower ends of the pick-up tubes I8 and their seeds are closely adjacent the top of the seed bed 22 as indicated in Fig. 5. The operator then opens valve Hi to relieve the suction and the seeds drop on top of the seed bed 22. The operator then releases the treadle 36 to elevate the pick-up device [3, closes valve it, and the above operation is repeated to plant other flats.

After the seeds indicated at 50 have been dropped on top of the seed bed 22, they are covered with a water-permeable decomposable septum 5! such as tissue paper and a layer 52 of sterilized sand or other seed bed material is placed on top of the septum 5|. The thickness of the seed bed material is that thickness determined by the proper depth to which the seeds 5i! should be planted. When water is sprinkled on the upper seed bed layer 52, the coordinate array of seeds as dropped by device 13 on top of seed bed 22 is not disturbed as they are protected by the paper 2i and sand 52.

At the time that the. seeds are dropped from the tubes i8, preferably the lower end of these tubes is about one-eighth of an inch above the top of seed bed 22, to prevent the seeds from bouncing or losing their coordinate array. While suitable indicating means not shown, may be employed to indicate the depth to which the pick-up device 13 is to be lowered with regard to the flat 2|, it has been found that satisfactory results are obtained as follows. All standard flats have a side wall 3 inches in height. In filling the flats with the lower seed bed 22, a leveling device is employed to level oii the top of seed bed 22 to obtain a depth of that seed bed of two and one-half inches. The suction tubes :8 may extend about one-half inch below the bottom plate is and hence the operator may determine when the pick-up i3 is lowered the desired amount, by observing the distance be tween the top 53 of the side wall of theflat 2t,

see Fig. 5, in relation to the level of the bottom plate 56 of the device l3.

The pick-up device 13 should not be lowered enough to push the tubes 18 into the soil for the reason that suction in the tubes 58 would pick up dirt and clog up the suction apertures 19.

As above described, each tube It picks up only one seed. While this is generally true, it has been found that occasionally a tube is will pick up two seeds; particularlyif two seeds are stuck together. However this happens only occasionally and not'often enough to detract from the many'advantages above noted. I

I claim:

l. A seed planter comprising a horizontal track, a suction header slidable on said track, means supporting said track for vertical movement, means under control of the operator for raising and lowering said tracks, means for sup porting a seed bin and a flat side by side under said track, said suction header having a horizontal coordinate array of suction tubes embraoing an area substantially the same as the area of said flat, each of said tubes having a suction aperture smaller than the seed, means for pro ducing a suction in said header and means for controlling the suction in said header. I

2. A seed planter according to claim 1 comprising spring means for raising said track and a stop for limiting the upward movement of said track, said means under control of the operator comprising a treadle.

3. A seed planter according to claim 1 wherein said suction producing means comprises a suction pump stationary with respect to said track and a flexible pipe connecting said pump to said header.

CARL H. TASCHE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Number France June 12, 1933 

